1st humanitarian flight arrives at Baghdad airport

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. A.J. Bosker
  • Air Force Print News
Although combat continues in a number of areas in Iraq, coalition efforts to increase humanitarian assistance are becoming more important, according to U.S. Central Command officials.

"Last night, the first humanitarian-focused flight went into Baghdad International Airport," said Army Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, CENTCOM deputy operations officer, in a press briefing at the command's forward headquarters in Qatar on April 12.

The flight consisted of two coalition aircraft delivering four pallets of food, water and medical supplies provided by the Kuwaiti government and the International Red Crescent, Brooks said.

"We view this as a very important step and one which will be followed by many more in the days and weeks ahead," he said.

According to Brooks, coalition humanitarian relief efforts continue to overcome difficult conditions in areas without adequate power or that have been ignored by the Iraqi regime.

Fresh water remains a challenge, and coalition forces are striving to meet this important and basic need, he said.

"Coalition forces continue to use military water purification equipment to make fresh water and then move that (purified water) using military resources (to the free Iraqi people)," he said.

Humanitarian-assistance supplies are also regularly arriving in the region by ship as more and more countries make contributions, he said. Efforts to put as much of the existing infrastructure back into use are also ongoing.

"The coalition plan for combat operations deliberately avoided (targeting) infrastructure to ensure it would be ready for use as quickly as possible," Brooks said.

Besides the humanitarian-assistance shipments, coalition forces are also redistributing supplies that have been captured from the Iraqi regime.

Brooks cautioned that there is still much work to be done in both military and humanitarian assistance operations.

"However, the coalition remains committed to completing the removal of the regime while also transitioning to an effort focused on the needs of the Iraqi people," he said.